Summer days

It's been a great summer so far.  The weather hasn't been to hot, we've had a lot of rain, the boys are loving playing outside, and we have had (and still have upcoming) great vacations this year.  We spent a week at Tablerock Lake/Branson with my family, and we are planning on leaving next week for a week in Durango, Colorado.  I'm excited.  The boys ride well in the car these days, and are nearly both potty trained - which helps a lot.  I'm sure vacations from this point on will be a lot of fun!

I've not posted in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy with fiber.  A quick update: I have the cream and blue kitchen towels on my largest loom:

I'm over half way done with the second towel.  The pink line seen is my cutting line, where I will machine sew the end of the towels on either side and then cut them apart.  Each towel will have the same coloring but has a different treadling pattern.  The first towel was plain 'ole twill.  The second one is an extended zig zag.  Here is a close up of the design:

Although my kids bug the tar out of me when I'm trying to weave - touching this and that and walking off with my tools, I really love weaving and hope as they get older I will be able to devote more time to it.  It's so satisfying to spend an hour at the loom and end up with 10 inches of fabric, even at small gauge.  Much different than knitting in that way.

I have finished 3 projects to share with you in knitting.  They were each quick things that I finished.  First up is my Hat in Pinks.

This yarn is some that I've had for forever, three partial skeins, and I finally just made a simple hat with them.  Bernat Cottontots in 3 pink colors.  It is a discontinued line, which is sad, because I like the yarn a lot.  It is really soft and easy to work with.  I really like how the variegated yarn created stripes in the middle section.  

Next up is a wine bottle cozy.  The idea for this arose out of our summertime Sunday evening Twilight Concert series in the park that we like to go to. 

We began going 3 years ago with our neighbors, and it became imperative (*wink, wink*) to bring a bottle of wine along.  Now tell me how, exactly, we should carry a bottle of wine and glasses to the park along with blankets, snacks, strollers, sippy cups and the like WITHOUT breaking the bottle??  So as a crafter will do, I picked up some Alpaca Love, Stitch Nation by Debbie Stroller, and started in.  

This was fun to knit, quick, and easy.  All you got to do is slide in your wine of choice and tie it to snug in down, and you have wool and alpaca keeping that wine cold and protected.  Very important.  :)

 It's knit in the round with a spiral pattern.

So now my wine bottles are safe when I'm going to music in the park.  Horray!

Last, is my Knotty Gloves.  I really like these.  This is Berroco Sox.  If you ever need a great, sturdy, warm sock yarn, this is it.  I made my dad a pair of simple wool socks from this same yarn and color, and he wears them all the time.  But I went outside the box and decided to make a pair of gloves with the second skein I bought. 

Self-striping yarn can be great, and it can be not so great.  When you are working a detailed cable pattern, stripes can really detract from the pattern and make it less visible.  This happened in the cabled knot on the gloves, but I'm still very happy with them.  They fit great (I made them big for me - I have TINY hands), so hopefully they'll fit "normal" people.  They'll be very warm and extend half way to the elbow, so that adds even more warmth.  I love the stripes on the fingers.  Gloves never cease to amaze me in their construction.  How you can increase, decrease, place stitches on hold, and end up with such an oddly-shaped yet well-fitting thing is fantastic. 

I have a pair of wrist warmers nearly done on one pair of needles and a baby blanket on the other.  Here is a sneak peak of that:

And on my small loom, my placemats are SOOO close to done.  I can taste it.  I should go work on them now....

Off I go!  Happy summer to you!

Lacy Fall Scarf

Sometimes I'll just walk through the yarn store and a certain yarn jumps out at me.  This was the case with this yarn.  Of course, I'm sure thousands of people have had this exact experience with this same yarn, but hey.  What can I say?  These people know how to make good yarn.

It's Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light, in colorway Byzantine, which (by the way) is still available.  This beautiful single ply yarn is just a pleasure to work with.  I'll be a Madelinetosh test knitter any day.  The color changes are subtle, but unpredictable, and it doesn't pool into unsightly colors.  One skein made this:

A lovely, long, lacy, lightweight scarf.  I made the scarf quite long (it measures 92"x5") to allow many different tying opportunities.  This stitch pattern was easy to work with and made a delicate leaf-like design.

As I knit it, my mind wandered to my stitch dictionary and all the pretty lacy patterns in there that would work well in a scarf such as this.  I may just have to get another colorway and try another one!

Amazing what you can do with two sticks and some string, huh?

Accountability is good

I imagine anyone that "works at home", or is a stay-at-home-mom, struggles with accountability from time to time.  I know I do.  It's easy to wear PJs all day, to throw in a frozen pizza instead of cooking that 4 course meal, to not shower all day...  I'll stop there because my list is embarrassingly long.  Being a mom is hard, and being THE caregiver 7 days a week is a service to your family.  You're giving yourself 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  There's no one else to pass the buck to most of the time. 

Recently, there have been changes happening in my household.  Elijah starting preschool in the fall has been a big deal for me.  I quit working a few days before giving birth to him, 4 1/2 years ago, and have been at home with our kids ever since.  And now, he will be entering the school world, half a day this first year, then all day after that.  And Noah will be starting next fall, only one year behind Elijah in school.  So I guess realizing these things, and deciding I'm ready to be more of a normal human being has prompted me to get myself in line.

I started with myself.  I told Chris I wanted a new wardrobe.  Primarily, my day to day clothing consists of sweats, old high school or college t-shirts, sneakers, and ponytails.  Certainly no makeup.  I gotta put my foot down (to myself, I guess!)  So I went SHOPPING. And while everything isn't quite fitting right yet (to those who don't know me well - I struggle with weight issues from ulcerative colitis - which is a work in progress), I'm so happy to have adult clothes again...AND well-fitting bras!  I also decreed that showers will be taken each MORNING, with acceptable clothes put on after that, and once the kids are in bed, I can change to my sleep wear (new for me - before was always a t-shirt and sweats!) and relax.  No more grocery shopping at 10pm.  Relax, chat with my husband, and then go to bed.  NOT fall asleep on the couch. 

The other thing I'm implementing is a cleaning schedule.  This is probably my biggest blunder.  I am perfectly fine playing with the kids, or weaving, or knitting, or cooking, or gardening .....  etc..... instead of cleaning.  Insert accountability once again.  When we lived in Kansas City, we had a LARGE rental home and I was pregnant with Noah.  I HAD to have a cleaning schedule.  So I dusted that schedule off and made some changes.  I want to share it with you.  Who knows, maybe you need a little inspiration, too!

Some of the changes I made correlate with energy usage - I'm enrolled with a time-specific pricing program with the electric company, so I avoid doing chores that require electricity between the hours of 2-7pm, when my energy costs are highest.  I also dry many clothes on the line outside.

Now, there are chores that I do every day that this schedule makes no mention of: dishes, picking up, etc.  But for any given day of the week, I can look at this list and know what I have to accomplish BEFORE I can proceed with my knitting or weaving.  It gives me motivation. 

I've been very consistent with it for 4 weeks now, and I'm happy that I can get my household obligations done, as well as most of my knitting and weaving jobs.  They suffer a small amount, but ya know.... my family is my job right now.  All the rest is just fluff.

Peach Rag Rug

The Leclerc Nilus loom that Chris' grandmother used was initially set up for only rag rug weaving.  She had a continuous warp set-up on it, had a huge stash of cotton rug warp, and even had made a temple.  There were also boxes and boxes of rags cut to size and wound into balls.  While initially, I really didn't have much desire to weave rugs, I've come across pictures of beautiful ones and see now that they have a lot of creative potential.

So, I wanted to start with a basic plainweave rug.  I chose some cute peach patterned fabric rags, read up on the process in my instructional book, and set in. I was amazed at how fast the process went, which shouldn't have surprised me since the rag is rather large in the shed.  It was simple, mindless, and rewarding.
Here is the finished product in my front foyer.  On a 2 1/2 yard warp. it ended out being 53.5", excluding a 4" fringe at both ends.  I was not sure what to expect from the selvedges, as I did not use a temple, but they seem nice and even without pull-in.  The header looks nice, too!

I seemed to be beating as hard as I could with each pass, but there is still a little bit of daylight seen between the weft.

I'll have to read up on techniques for getting a firmer beat.  But regardless, I'm extremely happy with it, and I have enough material for a second rug.  I've already measured the warp, so I'll go ahead and weave it starting tomorrow.  I figured I would go ahead and get it done while the loom is still set up for this rug...before I move onto my next project: kitchen towels!  My yarn has come in!

Hey...wouldn't these look nice next to a little girl's bed?!  Just thought of that! :)

Go KU!

I've completed the KU colors wool stadium blanket!  I'm so pleased with it!  I learned a lot of lessons after the KSU colors blanket: including how to handle the stretchy and slippery knitting yarn, as well as a better way to twist the fringe.

The blanket is made from 100% washable wool, what we call "superwash".  Cascade 220 superwash in two colors: Hyacinth (blue) and Really Red.  It has all the warmth of wool but ease of care like an acrylic. The blanket measures 57.5" x 33.5".

I made this blanket both wider and longer than the previous model, and I'm glad I did. It's a perfect cuddling blanket and will work great in the stadium. Here's my 4 year old, Elijah, demonstrating.  I'd say it's large enough for two people to share.  It'd be great as a seat cushion too!

 Cheesy, right??!

The fabric remains a bit weft-faced still, despite changes I made, but I'm happy with it!  

I discovered that you didn't need to tie the warp threads before twisting to make the fringe, and the result is much cleaner. 

So ROCK CHALK, JAYHAWK (a tribute to my alma mater)!

An update on current weavings:

I'm dressing my loom right now with cotton rug warp for a quick rag rug while I wait for some back ordered yarn. I'm excited to attempt my first rug!

On the table loom are the placemats. I'm nearly done with the second of four. It's in doubleweave, and it's been fun doing it. I've learned that a firm beat is not possible on the table loom, so future projects that need it should be done on the big loom from now on. But I've adapted the pattern and I still think it will turn out nice.

Inventing an infinity scarf

In my world, desire to not be wasteful is the mother of invention.  In my previous post, I told you about my experience with a loose knit in stockinette stitch, and how frustrated I was with how it curled.  I realized that in certain circumstances, you WANT curling at the edges.  It makes for a nice edge if done in the right way.  With that thought flowing through my head, I realized that I had some other leftover light-weight yarn (Knit Picks Galileo from my Striped Cowl) and I decided to try another item on the same needles as the Aimee Dew Cowl. 

So I began with an intentionally curling edge, and then started inventing.  I wanted the curled edge to stand out, so I made the edge a border in a different color.  I put a purl ridge on each side of the middle panel to help it lay flat.

Then I inserted a panel of chevrons in the middle, and finished with an identical border.

It's a fun, eye-catching accessory.  I really fussed with the edges in some of the pictures, it really curls on the edges more than it appears. 

The pink really gives it a pop of color.

It took me only about 4 hours to knit this one (similar to the Aimee cowl), and it was fun to use my brain and figure it out!

Here is the pattern:

Hogan Infinity Scarf
Yarn: Knit Picks Galileo (50% wool, 50% bamboo) or any sport weight yarn
          50g/131 yd - I used 1 skein of Abalone (7201) and 33g of Luster (1815)
Needles: US 10 (6.0mm) circular needle, 80cm long
              US 11 (8.0mm) straight or DPN for binding off
Notions: tapestry needle, blocking pins
Gauge: Gauge is not critical for this project

Abbreviations:
CO             Cast On
YO                  Yarn Over
K2Tog              Knit 2 Together
S1K1psso        Slip 1, Knit 1, Pass Slipped Stitch Over
BO                   Bind Off

In contrast color, CO 198 stitches.  Then join in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches. 
Rows 1-5 : Knit
Row 6: [K2Tog, YO]* repeat to end of round, don't forget the last YO!
Rows 7-9: Knit
Rows 10-11: Purl
Change to main color
Row 12: Knit
Row 13: [K4, YO, S1K1psso, K3]* repeat to end of round
Row 14: Knit
Row 15: [K2, K2Tog, YO, K1, YO, S1K1psso, K2]* repeat to end of round
Row 16: Knit
Row 17: [K1, K2Tog, YO, K3, YO, S1K1psso, K1]* repeat to end of round
Row 18: Knit
Row 19: [K2Tog, YO, K5, YO, S1K1psso]* repeat to end of round
Row 20: Knit
Repeat rows 13-20
Change to contrast color
Row 29: Knit
Rows 30-31: Purl
Rows 32-34: Knit
Row 35: [K2Tog, YO]* repeat to end of round, don't forget the last YO!
Rows 36-39: Knit
Change to size 11 needle and use traditional bind off.

Weave in the ends, block and enjoy!

I have listed this as a FREE pattern in Ravelry!  Make sure you post pictures when you complete it so I can see your handiwork!

Aimee Dew Cowl

More than a year ago, I made a beach pullover with this beautiful yarn: Louisa Harding Yarns Aimee. 

It is a blend of cotton and cashmere and is SOOOOOooooo soft.  I had 2 skeins leftover from that project, and I found this pattern to try.  This DK weight yarn on size 10 needles resulted in a really loose knit.  I was so happy with the result...until I removed the blocking pins.  This pattern utilized mostly stockinette stitch, and was supposed to be blocked aggressively to open up the eyelets.

Well, when you do that, especially with a yarn that is not firm and has plenty of drape, you get curling.  Nevertheless, I am pleased with the result - mostly because it feels like butter.

This was a quick knit, only took about 4 hours, and I think it'll be a great accessory in the bright blue color.  Reminds me of the beautiful color of the ocean at St. Croix (where I wore the beach pullover I made with the rest of the yarn).  

This cowl makes me think of summer!  Come on warm weather!